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I know I usually end my posts with that remark: God is good! He is! God is infinitely good! Today in contemplating the attributes of God, and particularly His goodness, I got a vision. I’m not sure that I can adequately describe what I saw. It was like multi-dimensional puzzle making up a true picture of God. One piece was Goodness and this goodness was infinite and infused all the other pieces.

Another piece was Justice and God’s justice was infinite and infused all His other attributes. God is patient, and God’s patience is infinite and infused all His other attributes, and is infinitely infused with His goodness and His justice.

And so forth. God’s goodness is a goodness so complete and huge and so completely infuses all His other attributes that it can never be separated from anything He says or does. God is infinitely and perfectly good! This is my thought for today from the Prayer Center in Malta. God is good!

The Bait of Satan by John Bevere

Day Six

This is day 6 of a 21 day fast for understanding the End Times (now), and knowing how to prepare for the perilous days ahead. Today I heard a sermon by John Bevere based on his book The Bait of Satan. The key scripture is Matthew 24:10-12, in which Jesus is speaking of the End Times (NKJV):

And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold (emphasis mine).

He pointed out that the word translated as love is agape, Christian love. So Jesus isn’t speaking of unbelievers, He’s talking about God’s people. People in the church—Christians—will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Lawlessness will abound in the church—among Christians.

Lawlessness means being a law unto yourself, not submitted to God’s authority. So, not necessarily sinning, but definitely not submitted and following Jesus. In an atmosphere of lawlessness, of course many will be offended.

Proverbs 18:19 says: “A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle” (NKJV). In those days strong cities were surrounded by walls, also called strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says:

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (emphasis mine).

Instead of the word pretension, the Phillips translation says “every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect. . .”.

Bevere said that an offended person’s thoughts become strongholds—arguments, deceptive fantasies, imposing defences—and that is how offense leads to betrayal. He defines betrayal as seeking to benefit or protect one’s self at the expense of someone you have a relationship with—the ultimate abandonment of a relationship.

Betrayal leads to hatred. Hatred is not a strong emotion like love or anger, but is the absence of love, lovelessness.

Going back to Matthew 24, verse 11 says: “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” An offended heart is the breeding ground for deception. They will genuinely believe that they are right, when in fact, they are wrong.

Offense and deception lead people to isolate themselves: “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment,” (NKJV, emphasis mine). Rather than seeking God’s wisdom or the guidance and counsel of their pastor or believing friends, the offended and deceived person isolates themselves and rages against all wise judgment. They seek only their own counsel. Isolation happens in the thoughts. It is very likely that the offended person still goes to church, but remains isolated in their mind, which makes them a perfect candidate for deception.

“. . . because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold,” (Matthew 24, verse 12). The person is not seeking God, and not submitted to God’s authority, and likely they were already lawless before the offense. When offended, their love (agape) will grow cold (hatred).

The person who can offend you the deepest is the person closest to you—your spouse, best friend, or pastor. And it is very likely that the offended person has been genuinely mistreated. But Bevere points out that if you want to walk with God, you don’t have the right to be offended.

This past year I have seen offense and betrayal up close and personal 4 times, in both marriages and ministries. Twice I was a participant. Once I was the party offended. I had been so angry as a result of the offense that I was literally out of my mind. It is true that this person genuinely mistreated me, and it is also true that there was no actual sin involved. My wake-up call came when I couldn’t stop myself from raging at this person to the point of tears and fleeing from my presence. That’s when I realized that my anger was way out of proportion with the offense. I sought God and asked forgiveness from Him and from the person, both of whom were gracious to me, and there was a full reconciliation.

In the other incident, I had thought that only the other person was offended by something I had done. In fact, we were both offended and we both betrayed each other. I had been so deceived as to believe that I hadn’t been offended and that I hadn’t betrayed this person. But in prayerful examination, I now see the truth. The devil had been working both sides of this situation. In this case, I’m not sure how to be reconciled to this person, but now that I can see my part in it, there’s at least the hope of reconciliation.

Be warned! The deception is very powerful. Verse 13 of Matthew 24 continues: “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” You can be right as right can be, and still go to hell because of your attitude. We’ve got to be alert and firm in our love for one another.

To see John Bevere’s full sermon follow this link: The Bait of Satan. God is good! He’s also very patient with me!

Day Three

The really cool thing about having the gift of encouragements (or exhortation) is that while encouraging others in the full spiritual exercise of the gift (in other words, not in my own ability), I am also encouraged. Often, in fact most of the time, I only hear the words for the first time as they are coming out of my mouth. Sometimes, if it is a word only for that person, I won’t remember what I said. And even that is encouraging. Sometimes that person will tell me: “Remember when you told me . . . ? It was just what I needed to hear.” It’s encouraging because I know that it was the Holy Spirit speaking through me.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Paul writes: “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Then he goes on to show what encouragement looks like:

5:11 – Build each other up: tell others the qualities that you genuinely appreciate about them.

5:12 – Respect those who are over you: cooperate with your co-workers in Christ, especially those in leadership.

5:13 – Hold leaders in highest regard: don’t participate in gossip about them, and don’t criticize them. In fact, take a moment to tell your leaders how much you appreciate them.

5:13 – Live in peace: deliberately seek to live in harmony with others. Be willing to agree to disagree whenever necessary.

5:14 – Warn the idle: invite them to join you in a project. Sometimes people don’t offer to help because they think that others are more capable or don’t need their help.

5:14 – Encourage the timid: Remind them of who they are in Christ. Remind them of God’s great promises to them.

5:14 – Help the weak: Show love to them and pray for and with them. Take a walk in their shoes and consider what they are going through.

5:14 – Be patient with everyone: Remember that everyone is on their own spiritual walk, and these people (the idle, the timid, and the weak) need encouragement and patient discipling in order to grow.

5:15 – Don’t pay back wrong for wrong: You may be as right and as righteous as you think you are, and the person who wronged you might be as evil and wrong as can be. But only your reaction to this person will establish your righteousness. As Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:44).

5:16 – Be joyful: Put aside all negative thinking. No matter what happens, no matter what seems to go wrong, remember that God is in control. With God on your side, everything will come out for the best, no matter what it looks like right now. God is on your side!

5:17 – Pray continually: Prayer doesn’t just occur in your room and on your knees, though that should be a part of your lifestyle. Practice the presence of God throughout the day. If your thoughts stray from Him to something you shouldn’t be thinking about, bring those thoughts into captivity. Practice breath prayers throughout the day—breath out negativity and impure thoughts; breath in the Holy Spirit’s presence. Memorize a Bible verse and whisper it to yourself throughout the day.

5:18 – Give thanks in all circumstances: God is in control and He is on your side, so thank Him. If something has happened that you can’t thank God for, then thank Him for being in control and for being on your side. Find something in your situation to thank Him for.

5:19 – Do not put out the Spirit’s fire: When the Holy Spirit prompts you to do or say something, cooperate and do it. By cooperating with the Holy Spirit, He will work more and more in your life.

5:20 – Do not treat prophecies with contempt: You may not understand all prophecy, in fact, it is unlikely that you will understand all prophecy. And . . .

5:21 – Test everything and hold onto the good: Whether you understand the prophecy or not, test it. The test is God’s Word. Prophecy that contradicts God’s Word is false prophecy. God will never contradict the Bible. Even if you don’t understand a prophecy, if it stands the test of God’s Word, then hold onto it and watch to see it fulfilled.

5:22 – Avoid every kind of evil: Don’t go into a situation that you know will tempt you. When you are tempted, resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

5:23 – Depend on God to sanctify you through and through, and keep you blameless: You can’t do any of these things in your own strength, especially this last one, so depend on God, and He will help you. When you can’t do something (anything), God will do it for you and through you. He doesn’t call the equipped, but equips the called. Or as my friend, Pastor Chris, says: “If your ministry doesn’t scare you, then it’s not from God.”

Note: I started writing this on Friday, but got busy and didn’t finish it until today.

Yesterday I learned that there would be the screening of a documentary about human trafficking in Bologna: Nefarious. Human trafficking is an issue that I have been intensely interested in ever since attending an International Justice Mission informational event at the University of Texas.

I was an usher with the Texas Performing Arts Center. I had become an usher because a dear friend is an usher at the San Francisco Opera House. About 6 months after my divorce, I went to visit her, and she arranged for me to work as a guest usher. I handed out programs at one of the main doors, and got to watch La Traviata for free. I was hooked. Since I don’t own a television, it was a good way to get out among people and see some entertainment for free. TPA, which is on the campus of the University of Texas, hosts operas, ballets, plays, musicals, concerts, etc. They required that all ushers work a variety of events, and not only “entertainments.” These included student events like commencements, workshops, and informational events like IJM, all of which we are free to choose.

When I learned that IJM was a Christian event, I signed up, even though I didn’t know what it was. The auditorium was packed out, so I stood at the back, fascinated and horrified, and heard story after story of women kidnapped and put to work in brothels far from their homes; men who had been tricked into working off bogus debts while living captive in squalor; and even children sold into the sex trade. There were success stories of people liberated, but clearly the vast majority had not been affected yet. The most encouraging thing about that evening was seeing the response of the students. I realized that only young, idealistic, committed people could ever make an impact on the trade in human trafficking. Most people my age feel bad about the situation, but never do anything, having had our idealism beaten out of us by life.

It was only after returning to Europe as a missionary that I became aware of the prevalence of human trafficking here. I started educating myself on the subject, reading as many books about human trafficking as I could get my hands on. Over time, I started to notice just how many people in my city, and even in my own neighborhood, have probably been trafficked here. It’s shocking. A few times I have had the opportunity to talk frankly with these trafficked people, but mostly it’s not possible because they speak neither English nor Italian. Here are a few of the different slaves I have seen:

The girl from China who cuts hair 15 hours a day in a busy salon that charges prices so low they can’t possibly pay her a living wage

The man from Sri Lanka who goes from restaurant to restaurant selling flowers, bringing all the proceeds back to his “boss”

The teenaged girl from Romania standing on the street corner waiting for a man to pick her up in his car and take her away for sex

The man from Vietnam who washes dishes in a restaurant for 12 hours a day, every day, with no day off

The woman from Thailand who works all day sewing, weaving, and mending in the dingy room in the back of the tailor shop

If any of these people sound familiar to you, understand that their fellow slaves are in your town, too—yes, even in the United States. Check out the Slavery Map: www.notforsalecampaign.org/slavery-map

So that is how I became interested in human trafficking, and why I’m going to Bologna to see the screening of Nefarious. The friend who told me about the screening is Annie, a missionary from the US. In fact, we decided to go together. So I booked us a hotel room because our friends there all have full houses because of the screening. In trying once again to buy train tickets on the internet, I found that the website still didn’t work right. I don’t live terribly far from the train station, but I am busy enough that I wasn’t happy about having to go down there to do something that, in theory, I should be able to do online.

At the first opportunity, I went to buy train tickets. Usually I buy train tickets from the machine so that I don’t have to stand in the long line. The machine also wasn’t working, so I went into the ticket office. One big improvement is that there is no line now, but a machine that gives you a number instead. That’s nice. Now if they would just give us some chairs, things would be even better. When my number came up I went to the window and asked for my trains. I found that the price was slightly higher than the internet price, which might be due to being closer to the date of travel or the special priced tickets having been sold out. Still, it wasn’t much higher than expected.

As we finished the transaction, I asked the ticket seller why the train company’s website never seems to work when it comes to buying tickets online. He said, “If everything worked as expected, then there would be no surprises. We Italians have learned to live with these inefficiencies.” I replied, “I’m American, and we expect things to work as they should.” He just smiled and said, “That’s your problem. When things don’t work as they should, it’s trouble and chaos for you.” That’s when I realized that God was speaking to me through this man. It’s the same lesson He’s been teaching me since I began the Faith Trip almost 2 years ago: relax, don’t worry, and remember that God is in control of it all.